Supporting Ernesto

Ern texted me after I attended his fundraiser show to say thank you for always supporting his dance through out the years.  Well of course.  When your friends have talent, you support them.  And what Ern does is pretty admirable.  The fundraiser was to help his Philippine Folk Art dance group Kayamanan get to France so that they could perform at the Festival International de Folklore de Chateau-Gombert ....  We got to sample the show and it was pretty epic.  I was able to snag some shots sitting on the ground near the front.

 

Ern bares it all.  He nailed the facial expressions

I don't know much about Filipino Folk Dance, but as you can see there's Spanish influence, tons of styles and lots of movement.

We're supporters!  

When the show was over, the DJ took over and Jlo and myself did our own Folk Dance called the Cupid Shuffle.  Life is complete.

BootieLA Prom - Blurry Night

We took a nice stroll through Echo Park Lake to get to the EchoPlex where it was Prom Night with BootieLA!  I couldn't get my camera settings right, but it made for fun party pictures.

Toward the end of the night, it looked like most people were done.  Except Phil.  I encouraged everyone to keep going for the party.  "Just once a year!"  Let's stay longer than midnight for once.  Though I was getting pretty tired.

The prom king and queen.  Cute hipster girl and buff nerdy guy with no shirt.  Not as cleaver as a couple years back.  Someone came as Carrie and had blood running down her dress.  She was amazing.

Looks like we're judging someone do the warm.. BUt it was just little people getting it on in the middle of the dance circle.

Happy Birthday Phil!

September Concerts and Performances

Andrew invited me to Live Arts Exchange (LAX) which a show case of contemporary home-grown performance emerging out of Los Angeles.

According to the website, these "innovative artists and independent companies in LA, creates social events that encourage cross-genre hangouts, and provides opportunity for peer to peer critique."

I was in awe at the entire experience which was very intimately held at the Bootleg Theater down the street from my house.  I was sitting at ground level.. the dancers could have kicked my face if they wanted too.

We didn't expect the performance to be so visual, I only had my iPhone to capture this and I'm a bit sad that we were late to the event.  The piece above was so sensual, the guy and girl had some much chemistry my breath was taken away.  There were moments when I couldn't believe that these people were human.  They were so elegant, passionate... beautiful.  Wow.

In September I also saw the XX at the Hollywood bowl.  The visual effects were so bright that I had to wear sunglasses like an idiot to enjoy the show.  The XX reminds me of my days riding the bus when my car was totaled.  The music is mellow and I has a calming effect that helped me clear my mind while I rushed to the next stop.

There is an annual industry event that I have fond memories of back in the day when I started working in LA.   These memories included over drinking and being regretfully social.  Regretful because I couldn't remember who I talked to.. if only business cards all had faces on them... and a record of the conversation.  This event at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip is a Battle of the Bands.... I took note of a cute pianist who I later found at the bar and purchased him a drink on the company tab.  I was networking... he could be a potential client.  He was grateful since he works in web design and never gets treated out.

Afterward, we took our car to Thai Patio where my coworker bowed to his Thai dessert and my other coworkers slow danced in the aisle.  I can't take these people anywhere.

The Space Between Us - janet Echelman photo by Mike Ryan

I also checked out Santa Monica GLOW which was terrible.  Too many people and a lot of wandering - everyone looked lost and disappointed.  The pieces were so far a part from each other that I was too tired to really enjoy them when I finally arrived.  Good try West Side.

A Club Called Rhonda

Fun party photos from A Club Called Rhonda - great space, great music.

 Start early, end early, cheap drinks, no cover that's our Motto gaysians YOLO -  every day every day every day every day.

This picture depicts how some of my friends feel about how fabulous I am:

A little More Indian in My Life

The two things that are on my life to-do list are Holi - Festival of Colors and Raas Garba.

Two very large Indian customs that I haven't participated in since I was in Berkeley, but long to relive.

Holi - Wet and colorful, music and celebration. Strangers touching, laugh... it's amazing. I have $26 worth of colored powder left over from this year's Holi fail.

Raas Garba (I could have title this wrong) - Sort of an Indian line dance done with rotating partners involving sticks. One wrong move, and you can accidentally bang your stick on their face.

Luckily I found a Bhangra night and managed to gathered friends willing to leave West Hollywood to experience something much more interesting.

I was impressed by the interest. J.lo does Salsa dancing and was all for this.

When we entered, I asked for a Mango Lassi Bomb because I thought I saw it on the flyer. I was mistaken. They only had regular drinks. At that point, I realized that I was fetish-sizing a culture... hmmm based on this photos... maybe not.

We were taught a couple of moves by this professional in traditional garb and off we went kicking and punching. I think I almost knocked some folks out. God, dancing like this was exhausting.

What was amazing was that everyone in the room was into it. Soon this drummer came out and added to the beats. Circles began to form as folks battled. People started to climb on each other's shoulders and hop around to the rhythms of traditional and modern Bhangra music which at times sounded a little like house, R&B and pop.

It was a tad homoerotic and Indian bros were showing each other up on dance moves.

Probably burned lots of a lot of calories that night, but it was worth it... Indian dreams come true... I need an Indian gay friend.